A Resolution You'll Want To Keep
By Mark Pribish, Director of  Identity Management Services for Merchants Information Solutions, Inc.

If you’re like me, then you know how the end of each year brings out the best intentions in all of us. Every year, I take inventory of the past 12 months, plan how I’m going to better my life and then charge forward with some ironclad New Year’s resolutions. No matter how hard I try, however, a few of my resolutions from last year always seem to end up on this year’s list.

For most of us, New Year’s resolutions focus on one or all of the following: personal relationships, physical fitness, professional development and/or personal finances. As I’ve learned over the years, it’s important to determine which changes you would like to make first and then prioritize the others so that you can have the best chance for success in 2007. Trying to act on all our new goals at once only leaves us overwhelmed and wondering what could have been at the end of the year.

If improving your personal finances in 2007 is on your resolution list, then it’s time to educate yourself about one the fastest growing crimes today- identity theft. Why? If someone uses your or your family member’s confidential, personal information to commit fraud or other crimes, it can ruin your financial well-being, not to mention your entire year.

Even if you believe your and your family’s risk to identity theft is limited, it is important to know that the security of your personal information is not entirely in your hands. Because identity theft is so lucrative, thieves have put stealing a company’s entire database of employee and customer names, social security numbers and other identifiable information at the top of their list. 

Whenever I speak to a group of individuals on identity theft, I ask these four questions: Have you worked for the same employer your entire career?  Have you used the same auto insurance agent during the entire time you have held a drivers license?  Have you used the same tax preparer when filing your taxes your entire life? Have you gone to the same hospital, doctor or dentist office your entire life?

Like most people, if you take the time to answer these questions yourself, you’ll realize that not only have you changed jobs in your life, you have also completed multiple job applications since high school. Do you know where every application (and voided check if you have had direct deposit) is? Additionally, do you know where the confidential data of every insurance agent you have worked with is? Do you know if your tax preparer from a few years ago is still in business and if not, where is your information today? Do you know what information security has been implemented at each hospital, doctor or dentist office you have ever received services from?

If your identity is ever compromised during a data breach, it may be some time before you realize it or are affected by it. As a result, you need to take proactive measures and be prepared that a past employer, a former insurance provider, the high school or college that you attended or graduated from, or your former tax preparation service, may have been careless with your confidential information.

As you prepare for 2007 and consider improving or revising your personal finance goals, make a resolution to know where your social security number has been used and take every measure to keep it safe going forward. 

If you ever become a victim of identity theft – especially an event that could impact your financial health and personal finances -- you should do the following to recover your good name and credit:

After all, this is one resolution you’ll be happy to have kept.